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Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

^1 (C1)He ^(C2)entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered.² And ^(C1)they were watching Him ^(F1)closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ^(C2)so that they might accuse Him.³ He ^(*)said to the man with the withered hand, "^(F1)Get up and come forward!"⁴ And He ^(*)said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent.⁵ After ^(C1)looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He ^(*)said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began ^(F1)conspiring with the ^(C1)Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

^7 (C1)Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ^(C2)a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea,⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from ^(C1)Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ^(C2)Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him.^9 (C1)And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the ^(F1)masses, so that they would not crowd Him;¹⁰ for He had ^(C1)healed many, with the result that all those who had ^(C2)diseases pushed in around Him in order to ^(C3)touch Him.¹¹ And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are ^(C1)the Son of God!"¹² And He ^(C1)strongly warned them not to ^(F1)reveal who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

¹³ And He ^(*)went up on ^(C1)the mountain and ^(*)(C2)summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons.¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: ^(C1)Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),^17 (F1)James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of ^(F1)James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "Sons of Thunder");¹⁸ and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, ^(F1)James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the ^(F2)Zealot;¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

²⁰ And He ^(*)came ^(F1)(C1)home, and the ^(C2)crowd ^(*)gathered again, ^(C3)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^(F2)a meal.²¹ And when ^(C1)His own ^(F1)people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "^(C2)He has lost His senses."²² The scribes who came down ^(C1)from Jerusalem were saying, "He ^(F1)is possessed by ^(F2)(C2)Beelzebul," and "^(C3)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."^23 (C1)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(C2)parables: "How can ^(C3)Satan cast out Satan?²⁴ "And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.²⁵ "If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.²⁶ "And if ^(C1)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^(F1)he is finished!²⁷ "^(C1)But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ "^(C1)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit;²⁹ but ^(C1)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"—³⁰ because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

^31 (C1)Then His mother and His brothers ^(*)came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him.³² And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they ^(*)said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."³³ Answering them, He ^(*)said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"³⁴ And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He ^(*)said, "^(C1)Here are My mother and My brothers!³⁵ "For whoever ^(C1)does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother."